My mom is so close to doing GAPS, but I don't know if she would ever embark on it because she is determined and committed to staying on a very low fat diet. She is already off grains, sugars, starchy vegetables, and probably most dairy products. But she uses margarine, and artificial sweeteners.

She is experiencing similar symptoms to mine, mainly being tired, worn out and depressed much of the time.

One of my sisters found a naturopathic doctor who consults by phone, and my mom has bought a bottle of something from him that is supposed to help her thyroid.

And she's pretty excited about it, and hope it works for her, so maybe I can try it.

So I was thinking of an analogy.

Let's say you've got a car with engine problems. It's running rough, big puffs of black smoke are coming out of it.

So you decide to give it a wax job. That doesn't work, so you get the seats re-upholstered with leather. That doesn't work either, so next you replace the windshield.

When the core of the problem is the gut, you have to address the gut issues. Otherwise you're just going to throw money at the problem and waste it.

I am wondering if what I'm doing is going to help at all, since I'm not doing organic foods.

UPDATE: 12-28-09. I talked to my mom about GAPS last week, I think on Tuesday the 22nd. She was interested! But mostly for our uncle that lives with her and her husband. So I ordered the books and she got them today. She was naming off all the people in our family who suffer from asthma, depression, all kinds of “GAPS” problems. My mom was worried about having to give up her one staple bread food item, buckwheat pancakes. Buckwheat is on the non-approved list. Oops! Well, I hope she is able to read the books, I know she will learn from them. I recommended she read the GAPS Guide first. This is wonderful!